1. Field
The present invention relates to a colorless transparent toner, a toner set, a development agent, an image forming apparatus, and printed matter.
2. Background Art
There remains strong demand for improvement in the quality of images produced by image forming apparatuses, and in particular for toner capable of producing images with a uniform gloss.
To reduce uneven gloss on a recording medium on which an image is printed, for example, JP-H04-278967-A and JP-H09-200551-A describe applying colorless transparent toner over the entire recording medium or to only a portion of the recording medium without color toner, to reduce the unevenness in gloss between the chromatic color portion and the non-chromatic color portion.
In addition, there is increasing demand for image forming apparatuses capable of producing images at a high speed while using less energy for fixing the image onto the recording medium.
This leads to demand for toner with a low melting temperature.
JP-H04-24702-B (JP-S62-070589-A) and JP-H04-024703-B (JP-562-070860-A) describe methods of providing toner with low-temperature fixing properties by using a crystalline binder resin.
However, the toner described therein must strike a balance between offset resistance and abrasion resistance.
In particular, when the toner using a crystalline resin is fixed onto a substrate like paper, the attachment of the toner to the paper weakens as crystallization progresses, so that in some cases the toner layer peels off after image formation.